Category: Pastor’s Blog

In my former job lives, there were always computer guys around. A system manager who is responsible for the IT system, the servers, the backups, troubleshooting for the users, keeping an eye on security and admonishing everybody that we shouldn’t click on links that might be dangerous. There is always a bit of a love/hate relationship between a system manager and the users. You can’t go with them, but you also can’t go without them. You can’t go with them, because they are strict in what you’re allowed to do and what you’re not allowed to do. At the most stressful moments, they must shut down the system, because it | “needs a reboot, in order not to crash”. You can’t go without them, because they fix your problems with your laptop, the printer, the access to your files and when things just don’t work. Here’s the most hated IT advice of IT specialists: “did you try to turn it off and on?” You’ve got a zillion programs open with all the files you’re working on, and this irritating ‘specialist’ says you have to close all the files, close the programs, shut down the computer, turn it on again, open all the programs and open all the files. That takes at least 15 minutes, which you don’t really want to spend on it. You just want the IT person to fix it… now! But, strangely enough, the most hated IT advice often works wonders. Just as if somewhere in the computer or the system, a bit or byte was laying crooked and by turning it off and on, it straightens itself out. Basically, the system manager only kicks into action, once you’ve tried this tested ‘remedy’. Probably, we should apply this hated, but tested IT advice to more areas of our lives. Like in our relationship with the Lord, our devotion times, our giving to ministry. Or when we start a new day that turns out to be a difficult and cumbersome day. Or with relationships that run into difficulties after which unexpected and unmeant harsh words are spoken. Or with a colleague that we start out with on the wrong foot. “Turn it off and on.” A pause, a reset, a moment of contemplation and downtime, a new start, doing it right a second time. Or a third time. The Lord specialises in new moments. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:19-24 Things don’t work out as you wanted them to work out? Had a bad start? Something is laying crooked somewhere? We are not consumed. There is new compassion EVERY morning. Not just once.

It is the time of the year again; the health care premiums for next year are made known. They only know one direction and that is up! The people living in Basel-Stadt will only see an increase of 1,5% of their Krankenkasseprämien. Perhaps the only time that Basel-Stadters come away cheap! People living in Baselland have to live with 5,3% increase and if you’re living in Solothurn, you’ll have to reckon with 5,8% more. The news is full of interviews, opinions and explanations why the premiums are going up: we’re getting older on average, new treatments, new medicines, life expectancy goes up but with increased medical care needs. In the next months, the health insurance company carrousel is going to turn its annual cycle. Is it cheaper with another company? Is the grass greener on the other side of the fence? The telemarketers are lining up to shower you with their unwanted and unsolicited phone calls! A portion of the increased premiums can be ‘blamed’ on people in our church community! New, expensive medicines, new medical treatments… sounds like the results of some of your jobs! I have watched first-hand with my own parents in their last days, how some of the medical treatments are not wanted by the patients, but almost forced on them by medical professionals. As things become medically possible, it sometimes seems like it is anathema to not accept the treatments. To force it unto people that qualify, regardless of their age, health and desires. I know there are lots of discussion and moral questions around treatments, and I don’t want to make light of it. When we’re talking about health care, costs and treatments, we’re looking at our own finiteness on this side of reality. What can medical treatments do for us and what can they not do? There are other things that confront us with our limited years on earth: drawing up a will, talking about succession, discussing how we want to live after our retirement, how we want to be buried or cremated. Yes, perhaps a bit morbid, but very real. Listen how the apostle Paul reflects on the end of his life that is coming mighty close to him: For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)It helps a whole lot in life if you have an eternal perspective like Paul has. There are more and greater things to come and we live our present lives in that perspective. Don’t forget that when you’re requesting new offers for another health insurance. Yes, health is very important and good to take very good care of. But your spiritual health and care are equally important. How about finding a better policy for that? Better and fuller coverage. Less deductible. Direct contact with the Provider!

In the news about the Die Post (the state-owned mail company in Switzerland): “Die Post verändert sich. Filialen schliessen. Dienste warden digital. Es stösst auch auf Widerstand” (The Post is changing. Settlements are closing. Services go digital. There is resistance.). This is not just something Swiss, it is happening in all countries. Some weeks ago, I was talking to someone in the Netherlands who was complaining about how much she has to pay for a letter to be delivered. Nowadays, you don’t even get the guarantee that the letter will be delivered the next day. It might even be 3 or 4 days later! I said to her: “It’s your fault.” She looked at me with incredulous eyes, like “Why me?” I said: “It is because you don’t send enough letters and that’s why they have to reduce their services, up the prices and try to make it work within those limited parameters. I am old enough to remember the times we did not have email, WhatsApp, Facetime, Messenger, Facebook and what-not. When you wanted to inform family, customers, potential customers, send invoices, insurance papers, damage claims, there was only one sure way: you sent it by mail. Die Post was your biggest and reliable friend and Postman Pat was not only delivering envelopes, but he also contributed to the social cohesion of your village or neighbourhood. But how many times do we send a physical letter nowadays? Very few times. Invoices come into our inboxes, we speak to family far away through some video service and we submit our stuff through secure websites. And Die Post gets the short end of the stick and we complain about the prices and the quality of their services. Anybody with some economic sense that looks at these developments can have seen this coming from miles and years away. But we still resist when it happens. Why is that? Why can’t we accept the inevitable? Galatians 6:8 tells us: “A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” God gives us the warning – beforehand – that our behaviour, our ‘sowing’ has consequences. But then when we get the predicted ‘short end of the stick’, we complain. We can see it coming from miles and years away. But we still complain when it does come. Better then that we learn to ‘sow to please the Spirit’. We can see the results coming from miles away: “from the Spirit we will reap eternal life”. Let’s be keen to sow in the right place today. And tomorrow. And all the days after that. I can see those results coming from a mile away as well!

The laws of entropy/thermodynamics states that ‘as one goes forward in time, the degree of disorder of any isolated or closed system will always increase, or at least stay the same.’ More popularly expressed: left to itself, any closed system will deteriorate to a lower level of organization. This is true for thermodynamics and energy, but we see this in any kind of life. If you doubt this reality, just look at how a kids’ room looks after it is cleaned up and look at the same room two days later when mom or dad didn’t pay attention! The laws of entropy are the biggest argument against spontaneous evolution of life. The reality we see around us is that things spiral down. They never spiral up. If you have to manage in your vocational life, you know what I’m talking about. One moment everything is lined up, your team is all arranged, all noses are pointing the same direction, everybody knows what to do. You turn around and don’t pay attention for some weeks and you’ll find that you need to put in a fresh dose of energy to get back to the same organizational readiness of your team. This also applies to our spiritual lives. Left to itself, it will deteriorate into a lower level of energy. Chaos increases, organization decreases. You can’t pump up your spiritual life on a Sunday or whatever day that you get some spiritual input and then trust it to remain at the same pumped-up level for the rest of the week. One Jesus-experience in the past is not enough to get you through life and into heaven in a glorious state. As one pastor said it so fittingly: we leak. We leak energy. We leak spiritual air. We’re like an air mattress that has a tiny little hole in it. It feels like it is pumped up and sturdy to sleep on, but long before the night is over, you’re on empty and you feel the hard floor underneath. The writer of Hebrews admonishes his readers: Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed (vs 12+13).Your spiritual fullness needs topping up regularly. You need to inject new energy into your system on an ongoing basis. Our spiritual lives are not a closed system. It needs input, it needs topping up. Also, this Wednesday morning.

On the last day of August of this year, a world record has been put in the Guiness book of Records by 1’006 Swiss Alpenhorn players on the Klewenalp in Nidwalden. If you missed it, you can find a news item here from the Swiss new service SRF. It is an impressive accomplishment. The Alpenhorn is a rare instrument and to get so many of them together on the mountain meadow overlooking Lake Lucern and having them play a melody of 5 minutes long is an impressive feat. This is Swiss heritage at its best and if you have any feeling for pride and honor, you’ll have some chills running down your spine and perhaps a tear in your eye. In general, the Swiss are doing a great job at celebrating heritage. If it is not their church bells, it is their Schwingfests, and if it is not their Alpabzug, it is their Fassnach. And right they are. When I grew up, we read a piece from the Bible at the end of our family dinner meal. Personal faith was not really a thing, but this piece of heritage was part of my Reformed tradition. It is a good piece of heritage, and I wish we had done the same when my boys were growing up. Probably you can think of good exercises of heritage when you were growing up. Telling each other what you are thankful for, before you ate the Thanksgiving Dinner. Taking a time of prayer before you kicked off the New Year. Writing poems or rhymes with your Christmas presents, so that opening them was not just an act of ripping off the paper, but a celebration of relationships. Serving at a local soup kitchen regularly as a family, so that you and your kids know that it is not all peaches and cream for all people. I want to encourage you to think about good heritage, good habits that you need to keep alive or revive. They can be milestones that you will look back on later in life. At those milestones, significant things happen. This is what Deuteronomy 11:18 tells us: Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  It is not enough to just recite the words of the law for the Jews. They have to wear them as symbols on their hands and bind them to their foreheads. Of course this indicates it should determine their deeds and their thinking, but it sure helps if you are reminded of these things by actually wearing them. The Lord’s Supper is also an important piece of heritage, which the Lord Jesus commanded us to keep on doing: For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes 1 Corinthians 11:26. Take your example from the Swiss people today and think about which heritage you should keep on celebrating or reinstitute.

Last Saturday, we organized an evening together with Compassion Switzerland. Some of you were there. A former Compassion sponsorship child talked about the impact the sponsorship had on his life. Without it, he would not have been the young professional that he has become. It gave him an incredible boost to become more than just a nameless kid from a disadvantaged family. The story was impressive and moving. If you were not there: you missed something significant! I have worked for an organization that organized both child sponsorship programs and granny sponsorship programs in Eastern Europe and East Africa. These are the two most vulnerable groups in societies: kids and elderly. In a lot of countries there is no AHV and BVG or other pension programs. It was my duty to go check on those sponsorship programs that we organized in conjunction with local churches and Christian organisations. I have spoken to many sponsorship children and their parents and a whole row of grannies that received sponsorships from a “rich” sponsor from a western country. I have seen the impact on the kids or elderly that were brought together in a program to share community and togetherness. School tuition was paid for the kids, school uniforms were purchased, the elderly received medical care and (in Ethiopia) came together for a ‘coffee ceremony’ or in other ways supported each other. If you click this link, you can watch a little clip from a few of those visits. Sorry for the poor quality, they are from two handfuls of years ago. Every time I come across those clips and watch them, tears spring into my eyes, and I know that sponsorships make a HUGE difference. And as the auditor of the projects, I can honestly say that by far most of these projects are squeaky clean financially. No penny goes to waste. While I was in Tanzania, I met one of my ‘own’ sponsorship children and one of my ‘own’ grannies. Although it is some 10 years ago, I remember these encounters like yesterday. They are engraved in my mind forever. Until today, my wife and I have six sponsorships, two children, four grannies. Why am I writing all of this? It is simply, because becoming a sponsor is a splendid way to heed the call of James 1:27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress. We all have food in our mouths, a roof over our heads and if we find ourselves in need, there is always somewhere to turn to. For kids and elderly in developing countries that’s just not the case. They go hungry, they get rained on in bed because the roof is leaky, there is no money to pay for school and no resources to get medical care. I know, there are other ways you can implement James 1:27, so by all means, do it! Sponsorships are not the only way. We have asked Compassion to leave a few ‘sponsorship files’ on our Welcome Table for a few weeks. Hook up with a child in a developing country that needs your support. To be fed. To sleep in a proper bed. To be able to go to school. Grab one of those files and let’s make sure we do something more than lip service. See you Sunday,Pastor Nico

For many years, the Swiss military dumped old, obsolete ammunition in its lakes. In Lake Luzern some 3’300 tons were dumped over the years and in Lac Neuchatel that total was something like 4’500 tons. The thought was that these were safe places where the old ammunition could be dumped. Out of sight, out of mind. In Lake Luzern it lies at a depth of 200 meters below water, but in Lac Neuchatel only some six to seven meters. But: ‘out of sight, out of mind’ doesn’t really work that well. The authorities fear environmental damage (due to heavy metals), corrosion and safety, because some of the ammunition is still quite explosive despite having been under water for so long. Think about that for a minute when you are cruising these lakes with one of those neat, touristic boats that have such cute whistles and look so idyllic on the water. The ‘Big Bang Theory’ might get an entire new meaning. Therefore, the Swiss Ministry of Defence has promised rewards of CHF 50’000 for the best three creative, innovative ideas how to extract this ammunition from the troubled waters. The Defence Ministry has been working on this issue ten years already, but no satisfying solution was found to get the ammunition from the bottom of the lakes. They hope that now, 10 years later, innovation and developments have come along to better assist them with their efforts. Think with me for a moment. Our hearts and our memories are like Lake Luzern and Lac Neuchatel. We dump many unpalatable things in there: grudges, bad memories, frustrations, sin, unforgiving thoughts. We dump them in there. They go below the water level. All seems tranquil and serene from above, but down at the bottom, things corrode, toxic stuff is released, it pollutes the water and we run the constant, latent risk that one of those ‘bombs’ will get triggered and it will explode and cause damage. Matthew 10:25-27 says: There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. It is much better if we learn not to dump all kinds of ammunition in our hearts. Let’s learn to defuse the ammunition and get rid of it in a safe way. By repentance. By talking things over. By forgiving. By releasing it in God’s hands. By letting God be the judge instead of me.

One of these upcoming days or weeks, you will walk outside in the morning and you will notice: fall is in the air. Summer is still holding on by its teeth, but the first signs are there that autumn is creeping into our reality. Pretty soon, the potted Chrysanthemum Ball plants will appear in the garden centres and super markets, which inaugurate the new season. Nowadays, they already start appearing towards the end of August and it makes my wife think every year: “No, no, not yet, not now, too soon, go away, summer is still here!” What will also happen is that spiders will appear everywhere. It is their season. The spider webs – that always are there, but are basically invisible – will be accentuated by the drops of rain or dew and the insects that are trying to find a good hideaway for the winter will get caught in the webs. Every morning, I walk through a narrow path with bushes on each side and soon I’ll have to take an umbrella or some other object to wave it in front of me, lest I walk into a big spider web with my face that has been spun over the path. Remember the series we did in July about seasons of life? One of the take-aways was: embrace the season you’re in. Now it is time to practice that! Some of us might be fond of fall, but generally more people have an issue to let go of the summer season. Let’s set our hearts on the admonishment of the writer of Ecclesiastes:There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. (3:1)So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them? (3:22) Embrace that summer is (almost) over, that autumn is around the corner, that things are changing, the heat will be gone, it will get colder, spiders are reigning. One thing that doesn’t change is that God is there, He is our rock, our refuge, our stimulator, our counsellor. Also in the fall of 2024. If we can practice this ‘embracing’ with the change of a season that we know is coming and is inevitable, we will also be better positioned to handle the unexpected stuff. When we must embrace a change of season that comes crashing into our lives unplanned and uninvited. The God we serve is a God of all seasons, planned and unplanned.

This week, the schools start up again after the summer holiday. That is a big thing. For the school, for the parents, for the children. For the school, it is the moment of truth for a lot of things. Are all teacher’s positions filled? Or are some classes without teachers? Are there sufficient pupils to attend the school, or does the school have to shrink, lay off people, send teachers away? Are the teachers up to the task? Will some teachers have difficulty to manage the class full of young talent and challenges? For many parents it is a moment of relief. Kids back to a regular rhythm again, parents have more freedom to maneuver, you don’t have to occupy the kids all the time. Some parents feel like flying the flag when school starts again. But at the same time, there might be some anxiety; can my kid do it? Will my kid thrive or barely survive? For children it can be a daunting experience to go back to school. Maybe they get to meet a bunch of new kids. The ‘power-balance’ in the pecking order might have changed over the summer. The school expects more of their attention span and ability to learn as they get older. Especially the kids that are going to school for the first time are thrown into an entire new and daunting experience. I still remember one incident when I went back to school after the summer holiday. I knew the female teacher already, and as a kid of 6 years old, I had picked a bunch of wildflowers for her. A beautiful bunch of buttercups, clover, dandelions and such. I had rolled the bunch in a newspaper and was on my way to school for a 15-minute walk, by myself. That’s how it was done in those times. When I was close to school, I turned around the newspaper to look at the bunch of wildflowers that I was going to hand over to the teacher. All I had in my hands was an empty newspaper. The flowers had dropped out somewhere along the way and I hadn’t noticed. It was too late to run back and find the flowers. So, I threw the empty newspaper away and gone was my grand entrance back into a new school year to arrange a good footing with the teacher. I still remember how ashamed I felt. A new school year: anxiety all around, on all sides. Here is an encouragement for all teachers, parents and children: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 Note that it doesn’t say: “Put all your anxiety on him”, or “Bring all your anxiety to him”. It is a much stronger statement. When you CAST your anxiety on Jesus, you hurl it to him with a big thrust. If you don’t put some ‘umph’ into it, the danger is that you will hold on to it anyways, because anxiety has a sticky substance to it. Only people that cast it away, will get rid of it. That doesn’t only apply to teachers, parents and school kids. It also applies to managers, employees, nurses, scientists, marketeers, researchers, statisticians, and all other people. Don’t keep on walking around with your anxiety. Cast, hurl, throw it unto Jesus, because he cares for you.

Maybe you get to see a bit of the Olympic games that are going on in Paris. Gymnastics, swimming, hockey, rugby, cycling, rowing, sailing, wave surfing. Although that last one is not taking place in Paris, but still on French soil in Tahiti. Sometimes it is incredible what we get to see. I think often to myself: “How in the world is it possible that someone can do this?” We watch it on television in a couple of minutes. And we go on to the next incredible balancing act or power exertion. Each and every performer in the Olympic games has a very, very long history of practicing. Not only the winners, but also the ones that just don’t make the podium of honour and come in fourth or fifth place and even the ones that end last in the standings. I know a bit of it. Not at all comparable to the Olympic sports(wo)men, but still. My two sons were avid ice hockey players in their days. Maybe it was their Canadian roots through their mum’s side that brought it about. Because on my Dutch side, ice hockey is a non-sport in the Netherlands. Only for a small circle of initiated. Both my boys made it to the U-18 national team for a while. The time and effort going into driving our boys to their twice or thrice-weekly practices, sometimes freakily early in the morning. Both my wife and I driving them to games in all corners of the Lowlands. The money we spent on gear, skates and especially hockey sticks… One composite ice hockey stick cost about 100 euro. Sometimes it was one stick per game. I’m sure the total of the hockey sticks would pay for a nice car altogether. It made me conclude: “Ice hockey is not a sport; it is a religion.” We see the swimmers at the Olympics come up, they swim their laps in the race, they are in the stage lights for a brief moment. If they come out first, they have a lasting moment of glory. Otherwise, they are lost in history. That’s what we see. It is the top of the iceberg. What we don’t see is the many, many hours of practicing. Alone in the pool. Pushing themselves. Finding their limits. They deny themselves a lot for their sport. Time with friends is limited. They keep a strict diet. They don’t splurge but have to be strict and disciplined. They focus. They spend a lot of time in the water. They practice. They train their muscles. They do power lifting. They run. They swim some more. For years on end. This is not limited to sports. Anyone who wants to be someone great at something great, will have to be focused, spend the time and energy, choose what to invest time in and eventually be great at something. Whether it is a career, a great dad or mom, a great preacher, a great sound technician, a great bookkeeper, a great nurse, a great person. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:5-6+11 If you want to be great at something, you need to put in the prolonged, consisted effort and stay focused.